


They Say We Are What We Are But We Don't Have To Be

by lukey_irwie



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Halloween, Luke is 17 ash is 21, M/M, Vampire/Hunter - Freeform, i had to make ash older and still want luke to be a teenager, i'm p sure the age of consent in aus is 16 so don't give me shit for it, title is from immortals by fob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 04:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5116178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukey_irwie/pseuds/lukey_irwie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke is fairly adjusted to his life as a vampire and he actually really enjoys it, however one night hunters attack his clan's lair. But what if instead of killing him, one of the hunter's decides to spare his life, and what if Luke falls for him.</p><p>Or the one where Ashton is a monster hunter and can't seem bring himself to be able to kill this really cute blonde vampire.<br/>(This summary sucks, I'm sorry. I swear the story is better.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Say We Are What We Are But We Don't Have To Be

Luke remembers the night his life completely flipped upside down like it was yesterday and will for the rest of eternity.

Granted, it did only happen about six months ago but when you’re cursed to live forever you’re bound to forget some things, a lot of things actually.  Luke knows he’ll never forget the night he was ‘turned’ though as would most other vampires.

_It happened on a Friday night, Luke and his best friend Michael were walking back to Michael’s from a party drunk off their asses and possibly even second-hand stoned, well at least Luke was only second hand. Michael had a joint but Luke wasn’t really into that life so he politely declined which everyone was fine with but even if he didn’t smoke any he was bound to get somewhat high from breathing in the air of the smoke filled room._

_So Luke was basically crossfaded walking in the dark and Michael definitely was. It was a stupid idea as Michael’s house was so far from where the party was held and there’s a dark desolate road they’d have to take to get to Michael’s. If they were sober they wouldn’t have done it but they were far from it and at the time it seemed like a great idea, Michael even claimed it would be ‘an adventure’._

_They were on the aforementioned road when Luke saw something streak in front of them and he felt a rush of cold air. Startled the blonde quickly turned to his dark-haired friend who seemed unphased._

_“Did you see something?” Luke asked Michael._

_“Dude, I’m seeing a lot of shit right now” Michael said before bursting out laughing and Luke knew he was going to be no help._

_Luke also had less to drink than Michael, though not much less, and after what just happened Luke was basically startled into sobriety while Michael was still as pissed as he was when they left the party._

_“Michael, I’m being serious, I swear I saw something rush in front of us and I felt really cold when it did” Luke insisted._

_“Luke you need to chill, you’re probably just seeing things from inhaling that weed smoke, and that cold air would be something called the wind” Michael said._

_“It wasn’t wind” Luke argued._

_“Yeah and I’m sober” Michael quipped before laughing at his stupid joke._

_“Whatever” Luke said rolling his eyes “can we walk faster at least?”_

_“If you want but if I pass out, don’t just leave me here” Michael said._

_“I would never, who do you think I am?” Luke asked offended._

_“Well it’s not that I think you’re a dick, well you are, but not that big of one, but I know you’re not strong enough to carry me” Michael quipped._

_“Fuck you, I thought you’re supposed to be nicer when you’re high not more of an asshole” Luke muttered._

_“Well the rules don’t apply to me, also I’m going to have to decline your offer, I don’t swing that way, you really need to stop falling for straight guys” Michael said._

_“I don’t like you like that, sorry but I have taste” Luke retorted._

_“Ouch” Michael muttered clutched his heart._

_“It’s not like I try to fall for them you know, straight guys I mean, it just happens. Like you can see a really cute girl and actually have chance with her, you know if she has really low standards, but if I see a cute guy there’s a 99% chance he’s only into girls. And it just sucks, not only can you be with a girl without judgment but chances are she’s actually attracted to guys and-” Luke grumbled until he was cut off by Michael._

_“Luke” Michael said._

_“You don’t care, I know, I’m sor-“ Luke started but he was cut off by Michael again._

_“No, no, no, it’s not that I don’t care, I really do but I think I saw something” Michael said and Luke felt his blood run cold._

_“Maybe, maybe you’re just hallucinating” Luke stammered._

_“It’s not that, I know it’s not and I felt cold like you said and I know it wasn’t wind, by the way sorry for not believing you earlier” Michael said._

_‘It’s fine, let’s just get out of here” Luke said grabbing Michael’s hand and beginning to run._

_Normally Michael would object to running but he was actually dragging Luke along. Luke was sort of behind Michael but still holding onto him when Michael came to a sudden stop causing Luke to crash into Michael’s back._

_“Why did you” Luke had started to ask but stopped when he found the answer._

_About ten feet down the road in front of them they could make out the shape of a dark figure in a hooded cloak slightly illuminated by the streetlight._

_“Let’s go back” Luke suggested turning himself and Michael around but as he did he saw another figure the same distance away._

_“Is this some fucking horror movie bullshit” Michael muttered but Luke knew he was just as scared as he was but was putting up a front “guys we know it’s you, stop trying to scare us.”_

_“Michael shut up, it’s not anyone from the party” Luke whispered._

_Before they knew it the figure was in front of them, almost like it had teleported or something, but it hadn’t because that was impossible, right?_

_“Now you have one of two options” the figure said pulling down it’s cloak and Luke could see it was a man about in his early twenties with light brown hair and a slight beard and eyes so amber they didn’t look human._

_If it wasn’t for the cloak the man wouldn’t’ve have looked very intimating and in fact Luke would’ve found him attractive because he was incredibly good looking. Luke could tell this guy was dangerous though and not some other drunk stumbling down the road. He spook so coolly and detached that again he didn’t seem human and it sent shivers down Luke’s spine._

_“I could drain your blood until you die or I could turn you” the man said._

_“Okay Brian, stop trying to sound intimidating, you suck at it” a female voice said before a woman around the same age with long dark brown hair and eyes appeared next to the man, Brian, as she called him._

_“Dammit, Janelle, you never let me have anything” Brian said sounding more human this time “and they look scared”._

_“Yes but only due to your hideous face, not because they actually feel intimidated” The woman, Janelle, said._

_“I’m Janelle, and this is my idiot boyfriend Brian, but you probably already figured that out and we’re vampires” Janelle said nonchalantly._

_“Vam-“ Michael started but Janelle cut him off._

_“Don’t try and tell me I’m not real kid, see?” Janelle said baring pointy white fangs and when she did so her eyes turned darker and dark red veins appeared underneath them, her fangs retracting and her face going back to normal only seconds later._

_“Okay so you’re a vampire, I’m not scared” Michael said though Luke could hear an edge to his voice._

_Luke himself actually wasn’t scared anymore however, he should’ve been, he should’ve screamed when  Janelle’s face turned but he didn’t. Janelle actually seemed pretty cool, even if she was a vampire and Luke had watched enough horror movies that he’d seen scarier things than vampires. However Luke started getting scared again when he realized if vampires were real then those other things most likely were as well._

_“Yes, they’re all real” Janelle said seeming to read Luke’s mind, which Luke knew she probably did as vampires were known to read minds, and that was only confirmed when Luke was turned into one._

_“If you come with us you’ll be protected” Janelle said._

_“As if, we’ll probably get to your vampire base only to have you all feed on us, we’re not interested. Use your mind control to make us forget this and we’ll go back to being normal blissfully ignorant humans” Michael said._

_“I’m afraid we can’t do that, not because we don’t have the power but because we need you. Our clan just relocated after hunters found us and we’re low, so low that our leader sent us out to turn people and we thought you looked suitable” Brian said._

_“Oh yeah take advantage of the drunk kids walking home in the dark, how wonderful of you” Michael spat._

_“Look, we don’t need to make this difficult, you can come with us without arguing or can you continue arguing and waste time, but don’t try to escape or call for help because we will kill you. If you refuse we’ll also kill you, we don’t want to have to resort to that however so you chose, come with us and live forever safe from all monsters or you die. And I’ll make sure to make it slow and painful for you” Janelle said looking at Michael and he gulped “I’ll make it quick for your friend though since he isn’t being difficult.”_

_“Don’t you fucking dare touch Luke” Michael growled and as soon as he did Luke felt Brian come up behind him and grab him by his neck  ready to sink his teeth into Luke’s flesh._

_Luke should’ve be fighting Brian off but it’s almost as if he was in a trance. Not one as in he was weak under the vampire’s touch, Brian probably wasn’t using his power to his full extent, but Luke wasn’t doing anything to fight back and didn’t feel like he should be. Which definitely wouldn’t be the case if Luke wasn’t under some form of influence._

_That was another trait of vampires Luke learned was true when he became one, but he’s never used it and never will. It’s way too inhumane to him and physically Luke may be a monster but he’s not going to act like one._

_“Come with us then and your pretty friend doesn’t have to die. While we don’t normally feed on human blood if we have to we will, and I think your friend’s blood would be quite sweet to drink, maybe so much that I would have to make it slow and painful after all” Janelle said._

_“Fine, tell your boyfriend to get your hands off Luke and we’ll go” Michael said and as soon as he did Brian’s hands were off him and Luke could think normally again._

_Luke raised his eyebrows surprised, he was expecting Michael to put up more of a fight._

_“They obviously aren’t fucking around, I’m not going to let you die” Michael whispered so only Luke could hear._

_Janelle beckoned for them to follow and Luke and Michael followed her and Brian, who were holding hands and Luke had to admit were adorable, off the road and through a field that lead to a wooded area._

_“So we have to take you back to our base and turn you there since it’s safest and most successful if it’s done at the base. Some people don’t survive being turned and we can treat you there if anything goes wrong so it’s safer. You’ll be provided with blood so you don’t have to go out and feed on random people. In our pack we don’t feed on humans at all, only animals, however you do need human blood for your transition but we have a bank of that, all of which was stolen from a hospital, not the nicest thing but still better than feeding on a human” Janelle explained as they walked._

_“So you’re like vegan vampires” Michael retorted._

_“You could say that, but it sounds stupid” Janelle said making Brian laugh and Luke couldn’t stop a snort from escaping his lips._

_“I expected him but not you Luke” Michael muttered “after I put my life on the line to save you…”_

_“Sorry” Luke muttered._

_“Like you are” Michael grumbled._

_“How does the turning process work?” Luke asked because he was genuinely curious “is it like in the books?”_

_“Depends on which books you read, Twilight is full of shit, we don’t sparkle and we don’t remove demon babies from uteruses with our teeth” Janelle answered._

_“Well I don’t read Twilight so I wouldn’t know” Luke replied._

_“Good, make it stay that way. I’m sure after you’ve been a vampire for a while you’ll get bored because you have all the time in the world and  want to read it to see what they say about us, but don’t, you’ll lose IQ points” Janelle said._

_“But how it works is you have to have the blood of vampire in your system, then you have to die, temporarily of course, and then when you wake up you have to drink human blood. Which I already said will be provided and you’re transitioned. We’ll make sure you stick to the strict animal blood only diet, and help you adjust” Janelle answered._

_“Can we still eat human food? What powers do we have? Can we go out in the daylight?” Michael asked._

_“Yes, but you don’t need it, same goes for sleep. Mind control if needed and we can also read minds and have superhuman speed and strength and can also jump really high. If you have a special piece of jewellery which we’ll provide you with, yes” Janelle answered._

_“Any more questions?” she asked._

_“Yeah how long ‘til we get there?” Michael asked._

_“About half an hour since you’re still human and we have to go at your speed” Janelle replied._

_“Do we have to? Can you just like carry us?” Michael asked._

_“We can but we didn’t know if you’d want that” Janelle said._

_“Well if it’s faster then of course” Michael said._

_“Well c’mon then” Janelle said grabbing Michael and Brian grabbed Luke and within a minute they were at a mansion deep in the woods._

\---

The transition obviously went well for both Luke and Michael and if Luke is completely honest he kind of likes life as a vampire better than life as a human. At first he kind of hated it and thought he was a monster but when he realized he can live off of animal blood and never have to hurt a human being a vampire didn’t seem that bad. Plus being a vampire had it’s perks like the fact he could live forever, or had superhuman speed and strength.

All the other vampires were very welcoming and accepting and for once Luke actually felt like he belonged somewhere as he and Michael were kind of outcasts at school.

Not only did Luke not feel like he belonged at school but home as well, both of Luke’s brothers were captains of their sports teams and got scholarships for it and Luke knows his father wanted him to follow in their footsteps. Luke couldn’t even if he wanted to, he missed out on the athletic gene his brother’s inherited and was terrible at sports.

Though unlike his brothers Luke was gifted academically, especially in math and science but Luke could tell his father wasn’t a fan of that as it was too ‘nerdy’. Then when Luke came out to his family and told them he could never love a girl romantically it was just another reason for Luke’s father to hate him.

Luke could tell his mother was bothered by her husband’s treatment towards their youngest son but she never did anything about it and Luke knew he was tearing the family apart. Why couldn’t Luke be good at sports and into girls like his brothers?

When Luke became a vampire he had two options, continue living with his family and hide the secret from them which would be quite dangerous or pick the safer route which was to use his mind control to make his family believe he moved away or even forget about him.

Luke chose the second one, he already drove a wedge between his family, being a monster would only add to that, so Luke made his family believe he was moving to America with Michael and they had been planning it for years and thought there was more opportunity there than in Australia. Luke’s mother started crying and told him to be safe and Luke promised he would, his father barely said anything and Luke could tell he was glad Luke was leaving. All Luke got from his brothers were some awkward hugs and with that Luke left knowing his family would be much better off without him. His mother would eventually get over him leaving and wouldn’t have a damaged relationship with her husband because of him.

Michael on the other hand had very loving parents but knew staying with them wasn’t the greatest idea, besides wherever Luke was he wanted to be as they were in this together. Luke knows lying to his parents was incredibly hard for Michael and he knows Michael still misses his parents like crazy.

However Michael actually managed to find a girl with long dark brown hair named Alicia who got turned around the same time as them and she and Michael sort of help each other cope. Michael really likes her and expects it to last for eternity while Luke knows it probably won’t last that long but he doesn’t have the heart to tell Michael that. Besides Alicia is making Michael happy at the moment and helping him cope with having to leave his parents and Luke will settle for that. Though he tries to avoid them when they’re over couple because not only does he not want to see that but it reminds him that he’s painfully single and probably will be for the rest of eternity.

 Luke misses his family too sometimes especially when he reminisces the times when his father didn’t hate him and his brothers treated him like one of them and his mother was happy and didn’t have this distant look in her eyes. Whenever those feelings come about Luke reminds himself how much better off they are without him and the feelings go away.

Luke can honestly say the vampires feel like more of a family to him, even their strict leader Feldmann, who really isn’t that strict at all. Of course he makes sure no one breaks the rules but the rules aren’t even that strict, they’re just things like ‘don’t feed on humans’ or ‘don’t turn people unless instructed to do so’.

 When he’s not working Feldmann is actually a lot of fun to be around and he’s almost 3000 years old so he has a lot of interesting stories to tell at the dinner table and always adds a humorous twist to them. He’s what Luke imagines a father should be like and he can tell Michael really likes him as well and reminds him of his own father, but with more interesting stories.

Luke really enjoys his life as a vampire and is looking forward to spending the rest of eternity with his clan.

Little does Luke know that isn’t going to happen.

\---

“So how are we going to do it this time? We let some of them escape last time. I still can’t believe we didn’t get sacked” Calum says running his hands through his dark hair.

The young hunter is sitting in the passenger seat of his partner, Ashton’s, car and is preparing his and Ashton’s weapons while the other hunter drives. Right now Calum is working on loading their guns with wooden bullets.

“Well it’s Morgan’s fault he sent the two of us to kill an entire clan of vampires on our own, and not just any clan but a clan with a 3000 year old leader” Ashton replies “I still can’t believe he did that and I can’t believe he did it again.”

“Well technically he didn’t, he’s sending Zakk and Matt out there too” Calum argues.

“Yeah after they complete their mission, which means we have to start on our own” Ashton quips and now he’s the one running his hands through his dirty blonde hair.

“Well they said they’d hurry and their mission is pretty close to the base, they could even get there before us” Calum replies.

“Let’s hope so” Ashton mumbles gripping the steering wheel harder “If they’re not there when we get there we can always wait for them, Morgan never said we couldn’t, and it’s ridiculous he expects us to start on our own. As for the plan I think we should all take on the leader together and then split the rest of them. Since we did actually managed to kill a lot of them last time, even if the clan has grown the majority of them will be new and easy to take”.

“That sounds like a good idea, I’ll text Zakk and Matt” Calum says fumbling for his phone in his bag.

It’s silent as the dark skinned boy types away at his phone for a few minutes before speaking.

“They think it’s a good plan and they’re on their way there right now, if they get there before us they’ll wait” Calum says.

“Perfect” Ashton replies.

“Tell me about it, I can’t wait to finally finish off those bastards, no one escapes Calum Hood and gets away with it” Calum retorts.

“Well technically-” Ashton starts but Calum cuts him off.

“Shut up Irwin” Calum quips punching Ashton on the shoulder “no one permanently escapes Calum Hood and gets away with it, there is that better?”

“Sure” Ashton replies.

“You don’t sound very enthusiastic” Calum mutters “Do you not think I’m a good hunter?”

“No I don’t the only reason we’re good is because of me” Ashton quips.

“Fuck off” Calum grumbles shoving Ashton.

“Hey, don’t push me, I’m driving!” Ashton exclaims.

“Don’t be a dick then” Calum mutters.

“I’m sorry but you’re just so easy to bother” Ashton quips.

“You know I really hate you” Calum mutters.

“Aww I love you too babe” Ashton retorts ruffling Calum’s hair.

“I thought you were driving, fucking keep your hands to yourself” Calum mutters.

“Fine princess” Ashton retorts.

“Don’t fucking call me that, it’s weird, I’m not your boyfriend. Not to mention I’m not a princess I’m a king, a very intimidating king” Calum says.

“Keep telling yourself that” Ashton retorts.

“I’m not speaking to you anymore, I don’t deserve this treatment” Calum grumbles.

“Good then, I don’t want to hear your obnoxious voice anymore” Ashton says.

“And I don’t want to hear yours” Calum quips.

It’s silent as Calum goes back to preparing the weapons, and Ashton enjoys it as he can actually focus on getting to the base and he knows Calum isn’t actually upset.

\---

Ashton stops the car at the edge of the woods behind another car that he knows is Zakk and Matt’s.

“Let’s get this done and finally kill those vampires once and for all” Calum says handing a gun and backpack to Ashton.

Ashton doesn’t say anything just nods in agreement and hops out of the car while Calum does the same.

“Do you know where they are?” Ashton asks referring to Zakk and Matt but before Calum can even answer Zakk and Matt emerge out of the bushes.

“’Right here” Zakk and Matt say simultaneously.

“You know the plan?” Ashton asks.

“Yeah, Calum texted it to us” Matt answers.

“Well, let’s go then” Ashton says beginning to walk into the woods.

“While we were waiting for you we actually went and found the house, so we don’t need directions or anything” Zakk tells them.

“Perfect” Ashton says “lead the way then”.

“Well we were going to but you just ran into the woods so quickly like there was a lifetime supply of cheesecake in there or something” Matt teases and Ashton shoves him slightly.

“Shut up, Pauling” Ashton laughs.

“Hey we don’t have to help you, now c’mon” Matt says motioning for Ashton and Calum to follow and they do.

About twenty minutes later Matt comes to an abrupt stop almost making Calum and Ashton crash into him and he places a finger to his mouth telling them to keep quiet. Ashton and Calum obey and Matt pushes a branch out of the way revealing a glimpse of a house, well more like _mansion._

It was a huge old Victorian style house that was painted all black probably so it could blend in in the dark. It looked exactly how you’d expect a vampire lair to look.

Ashton was kind of surprised the house was so obvious especially since that clan had been caught but he didn’t dare voice opinions knowing the vampires would be able to hear even the faintest of whispers. He figured maybe since it was so deep in the woods they didn’t think they’d have to do anything to hide it. Which was a deadly mistake on their part but a good one on Ashton’s as it made his job that much more easier.

Matt clears a thicker branch out of the way leaving just enough room for them to get through and Zakk went through first motioning for Ashton and Calum to follow, Matt putting the branch back and following right after.

They quietly followed Zakk around to the back of the mansion and to a door, which was propped open by a piece of plywood, with just enough room for them to slip through.

Ashton wonders if Zakk and Matt had done that when they were here earlier and the vampires never noticed or if the vampires had left it like that for some strange reason, though of course Ashton doesn’t vocalize his question.

Ashton shrugs off the question as Zakk slips through the door with Calum right behind. Ashton feels two hands on his shoulders pushing him forward and he knows it’s Matt urging him to go. Ashton knows Matt is probably looking at him and wondering why he didn’t go right away, but that’s the least of Ashton’s worries.

Right now he just needs to focus on slipping through the door without making a sound, nothing else.

Ashton takes a deep breath to clear his mind before making his way towards the door. It’s a tight squeeze and Ashton has to put his arm with his gun through first so it won’t knock against the wood or anything. Ashton then squeezes the rest of his body through careful to not let his feet knock the door or wall or to trip over the piece of plywood. Within about a minute of small cautious steps sideways and holding his breath into make himself smaller Ashton is through the door.

Matt slips through quickly and quietly after making Ashton a little self-conscious of how long he took but he doesn’t really care.

They’re in a type of cellar, with a cord dangling above wooden stairs like on a deck with about a dozen fridges, if it weren’t for the large quantity of fridges it would look like any normal cellar. However knowing what was in those fridges makes Ashton sick to his stomach.

Before Ashton can think much of it the light clicks on and Ashton looks up the stairs to see a young dark haired girl casually making her way down the stairs. She looks up and immediately freezes in shock before turning back around to try and make her way up the stairs. However before she can reach the top there’s a gunshot and her body collapses on the steps.

Ashton actually kind of feels bad which is odd considering he can usually kill vampires and other monsters with no emotion. He figures maybe it’s because she looks so young and was probably recently turned. Also, most vampires are trying to kill Ashton which makes the process of killing them a lot easier. However, when this vampire saw them as she was coming down the steps she just looked like a normal teenage girl, scared out of her mind and that made Ashton feel incredibly guilty.

Ashton looks over to see Calum slinging his gun behind his back and reaching into his backpack to try and grab his stake but with much difficulty.

“I could use a little help over here” Calum says and Ashton snaps out of his daze and helps Calum get the stake out of his bag.

“You finish her off” Calum says once Ashton grabs the stake “you need to focus on something, you’ve been zoning out too much.”

Ashton looks over to Zakk and Matt who have the same expectant look on their faces as Calum.

Ashton takes a deep breath and mentally tells himself that he can do this, she’s a vampire, she deserves it, even if it goes against what Ashton’s conscious is telling him.

Ashton reaches the girl’s lifeless body and she looks dead already and Ashton wishes she was and he wouldn’t have to finish her off. However he knows one small wooden bullet isn’t enough to kill a vampire and it’s only a matter of time before she wakes. Ashton raises the stake above her lining it up with her heart and tries to ignore the fact his hands are shaking and he hopes Calum, Zakk and Matt don’t notice.

Ashton is never nervous killing vampires and never feels remorse for them, so why is he feeling it now?

Ashton shakes the thoughts from his mind and quickly brings the stake down. He shuts his eyes because for some reason he can’t bear to see the remainder of life slip from the girl’s body. The sickening crunch the stake makes at it collides with the girl’s body tells Ashton he was successful.

Ashton slowly opens his eyes and when he does he sees the girl’s lifeless body under him and Zakk and Matt making their way up the stairs.

All of sudden there’s a hand on Ashton’s shoulder and he jumps and grabs the stake, ready to attack.

“Wow so you could barely kill a vampire but have no problem killing your best friend?” The voice says and Ashton lowers the stake when he realizes it’s just Calum.

“I didn’t know it was you” Ashton answers “and I had no problem killing her”.

“You and I both know that’s bullshit, what’s up with you?” Calum asks.

“I don’t know, it’s just, didn’t she seem oddly human to you? I don’t know she was probably recently turned and-“ Ashton starts but Calum cuts him off.

“And she’s a vampire, they play mind games, that’s how they get you. She was probably playing the innocent little girl card and would attack as soon as you showed signs of trusting her” Calum says.

“Then why did she run away?” Ashton questions.

“To get others so they could kill us all at once” Calum answers “c’mon Ashton. They’re _vampires_ , they’re ruthless killing machines. You need to focus or you’re going to get us killed”.

“Okay,” Ashton says, Calum’s last statement sort of giving him a reality check “you’re right. I need to start acting like myself and not feel bad for them.”

“That’s the spirit” Calum says.

“Do you know how old you sound?” Ashton teases.

“Well I’m glad to see you back, even if that damaged my ego,” Calum says and before Ashton can say anything more sarcastic Calum speaks again “we need to go though. They obviously heard that gunshot and will be ready to attack.”

“Well if you hadn’t have been so reckless and shot the first one we saw,” Ashton says.

“Okay, I get it, everything’s my fault. Now shut up because I actually have a plan that might make up for my recklessness” Calum says.

“When do your plans ever work?” Ashton quips.

“So” Calum says ignoring Ashton’s insult “Zakk, Matt and I decided it would be best if just they take on the leader since you’re not really being yourself today. You and I will take as many of the other vampires as we can. We’re going to have a kind of system where I shoot them since I’m more focused and you finish them off by staking them. Though of course, if you need to shoot them, do so, and if you improve maybe we can even split up”.

“Okay, sounds good and I’ll try my best to focus. I’m sure once they actually start attacking me and seem like real vampires I’ll be fine” Ashton says.

“That’s what I like to hear” Calum says “now c’mon”.

Calum is already ascending up the rest of the steps and Ashton gets up a follows him and focuses his attention on what he has to do in order to complete his mission, not anything else.

And it’s a good thing because as soon as they reach the top of the steps a vampire swoops down completely catching Calum off guard and pins him to the ground. Calum is rolling around and trying to fight the vampire off but Ashton knows without his help there’s a huge chance Calum won’t win.

Ashton aims his gun so it will only hit the vampire and not Calum and just in time too, since the vampire is just about to sink its teeth into Calum’s flesh. The vampire goes limp and Calum is able to shove it off and grab a stake from his bag before plunging it into the vampire’s heart.

“Okay so if you keep that up we could split up within the next few minutes, but maybe, maybe we shouldn’t” Calum says.

“Why? Because you would’ve died without me? I told you you were a shitty hunter” Ashton teases.

“Shut up” Calum mutters as another vampire comes into room and this time Calum’s shoots it.

Ashton runs up to it and plunges his stake into its heart knowing he has to act fast as it’s only a matter of time before they’re swarmed with vampires.

\---

“God this is a terrible movie. Why is Bella so whiny and why can’t she do anything except obsess over Edward? She makes girls look bad” Alicia rants “this is giving me a headache.”

Alicia, Luke and Michael are currently in Luke and Michael’s shared room and are watching Twilight. Alicia said she wanted to watch it because she was bored and had nothing else to do and figured it would be fun to check out Twilight as none of them had actually seen it and she wanted to make fun of something and see what bullshit they could come up with about vampires.

Alicia is cuddled up to Michael’s side with her head resting on his chest and Luke is on the other side of her just lying there awkwardly.

At first Luke was lying contently stretched out on his bed but then Alicia said he looked lonely and invited him over. While Luke was perfectly fine staying on his bed and not being near the couple, Alicia quickly got Michael on her side and he agreed just to shut them up.

He knew they were eventually going to bring up setting Luke up with some guy and Luke really didn’t need that. They already tried to set Luke up with another member of clan, solely because he was also into guys and while he was nice both he and Luke didn’t picture it going anywhere. Luke will find someone he likes eventually or he won’t and will be single forever. Whatever, Luke doesn’t really care about the outcome he just wants to be able to make the decision on his own.

“It was your idea to watch it” Luke points out.

“Yeah, I know, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. I also didn’t expect him to pull this on me” Alicia says to Michael who has his eyes shut and is snoring slightly “I swear if he starts drooling on me…”

“He normally does drool so good luck with that” Luke retorts.

“Ew, how can someone so cute be so gross?” Alicia asks looking at Michael and running her fingers through his hair.

Michael’s hair is red as he dyed it because he thought it was fitting because he’s a vampire and Luke and Alicia will never let him live down how corny it is.

 “That’s Michael for you” Luke quips.

“True, true” Alicia laughs before clapping her hands together and sitting up “Well I’m going to go get blood, you want some?”

“Of course” Luke says “and get Michael some too, he’ll be pissed if we wakes up and we have blood and he doesn’t”.

“Right” Alicia agrees climbing over Luke and digging her hand into Luke’s leg in the process.

“Um, ow” Luke mutters

“Sorry, but I have to get up somehow and I didn’t want to wake sleeping beauty” Alicia apologizes and Luke shakes his head “pick out a good movie while I’m gone, I’m sick of this shit”.

“Good, I am too” Luke says “and I’ll pick out the best movie”.

“You better” Alicia says stopping in the doorway dramatically “I’m counting on you, Hemmings. Don’t let me down.”

“You sounded just like Michael there” Luke points out.

“Well you are what you-” Alicia starts but Luke cuts her off.

“Don’t finish that” Luke says.

“Fine, okay. Jeez, you have no sense of humour” Alicia says.

“I do so” Luke says “I just don’t need to hear about the sex life of my two best friends”.

“Fair enough, but it’s me and Michael, get used to it” Alicia says before slipping out the door.

Luke shakes his head and makes his way over to the stack of movies, he’s debating between World War Z and Captain America when there’s a loud bang sounding eerily like a gunshot. It makes Luke drop the movies and he looks up to see Michael stirring awake.

“What the fuck was that? Did someone get shot?” Michael asks rubbing at his eyes.

He mostly just looks confused but when he takes in his surroundings and notices Luke across the room and that Alicia is nowhere to be found he instantly panics.

“Where’s Alicia?!” Michael exclaims.

“She went downstairs to get blood” Luke says.

He’s trying to act calm even though there’s a sinking feeling in his stomach that it was a gunshot and a high likelihood it was Alicia as she would’ve been alone and vulnerable to getting attacked by a group of hunters.

“You mean she’s all alone and could’ve just got shot?!” Michael exclaims and of course his mind goes straight to where Luke was hoping it wouldn’t but how could it not?

Michael shoves the blankets off himself and gets up to leave but Luke uses his super speed to get in front of Michael and block him from leaving.

“Luke, move. C’mon, don’t make me push you” Michael says.

“No, you know what Feldy says.  If hunters attack we have to hide since we’re not prepared enough to defend ourselves yet” Luke says.

“Yeah well fuck the rules, Alicia’s out there and you know damn well it could’ve been her and if not it’s only a matter of time before it is” Michael says trying to push past Luke but Luke grabs his arms and stops him.

“Luke” Michael pleads “C’mon don’t make me fight against my best friend”.

“This is for your safety” Luke says “Michael I don’t want you to get hurt, don’t be reckless”.

And maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words because Michael immediately scoffs and glares at Luke.

“Reckless? You think I’m being reckless?! I fucking love Alicia and I’m not going to let her die, sorry you don’t know what it’s like” Michael seethes.

Michael says it so angrily and with no regard for Luke’s feelings that it shocks Luke as he’s never seen his best friend act this way. And while Luke knows he’s just angry it still cuts deep, so much so that Luke doesn’t even notice Michael trying to escape until Luke feels himself being shoved into the wall.

Luke immediately gets up as being a vampire it has no effect on him, but when he sees that Michael has left without so much as a sorry or guilty exchange in Luke’s direction, _well that hurts._

While Luke knows it’s hypocritical of him as he just warned Michael about being reckless, Luke has no choice but to follow him. He can’t let Michael get himself killed and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if just hid in the safety of his room while Michael was in danger.

 And maybe Luke does know how Michael feels about Alicia, but in a different way but he’s not going to let that cloud his judgement. He can’t, it would put both his and Michael’s safety at risk.

Luke uses his super speed to get to the cellar where he knows Michael will be as that’s where Alicia will be and sure enough he sees Michael sitting on the middle of stairs clutching Alicia’s lifeless body. Luke can hear Michael’s cries even though he knows Michael is trying to keep them quiet but when you’re a vampire nothing is quiet.

“Michael” Luke says cautiously descending down the steps and he knows one wrong step or word could cause Michael to attack him.

“Luke, help me! C’mon hurry, maybe we can” Michael says trailing off as a sob escapes his mouth.

“You know we can’t” Luke says feeling tears collect in his eyes.

It’s partially from seeing Alicia as they became good friends over the past few months though Luke had been expecting something like this so it doesn’t affect him as much as it should. However, seeing Michael so distraught breaks Luke’s heart. He knows Michael has had a rough time adjusting to life as a vampire since it meant leaving his family and that’s something Luke will never really understand. At least not on Michael’s level, but Alicia understood and she cheered Michael up and made him happy when Luke couldn’t. And maybe they haven’t have even been dating for six months but seeing Michael in this state, he knows Michael loves Alicia as much as he claims he does and maybe they did have to potential to last forever, but now they’ll never know.

“I fucking hate them, they probably did it with no emotion or feelings of regret. They just took the love of my life away from me with no remorse and they think we’re the monsters? I want to kill every last one of them” Michael seethes.

“I’m sorry” Luke says because he doesn’t know what else to say “but maybe you should leave it up to the others. Killing them I mean, the others are more experienced and they’re can’t be that many hunters. You know she wouldn’t want you to do anything that could end up getting you hurt”.

Luke knows his last sentence was risky and could go either way and get Michael to agree and not do anything stupid or could cause Michael to attack him. Michael doesn’t show any signs of anger however instead he just lets out a pitiful sob and that’s much worse. Luke would rather have Michael get angry and attack him than to see his best friend so broken.

“Can you just leave me alone with her?” Michael pleads “I promise I won’t do anything stupid, I just, I need to say goodbye. I’ll go right back to the room after and speaking of that, can you do that for me and hide somewhere safe? I can’t lose you too.”

“Yeah, of course” Luke nods and is about to leave when Michael calls his name.

“Hey, Luke?” Michael asks.

“Yeah, Michael?” Luke asks.

“Sorry for being such a dick to you earlier” Michael says.

“It’s fine” Luke says waving it off “I was preventing you from seeing if someone you love was okay. I would’ve acted the same way in your positon”.

“I don’t deserve a friend like you” Michael says.

“Don’t say that, of course you do” Luke protests and Michael just shrugs.

Luke knows he’s in need of comforting but he also knows Michael won’t want to admit that and would rather have Luke be safe than stay with him and comfort him. Still, he can’t just leave Michael with nothing so he makes his way back down to where Michael is.

“Luke, what are you-“ Michael says but before he can even finish asking Luke is crouching down and pressing a kiss to the top of Michael’s head.

“Come back to me, okay” Luke says burying his face into Michael’s hair.

Luke’s annoyed by the way his voice shakes as he’s supposed to be calm and comforting Michael but of course Michael doesn’t mind and his tone matches Luke’s.

“Of course, I always will, Lucas” Michael says turning his head to kiss Luke’s cheek.

Normally Luke would be annoyed by the use of Lucas as it’s not his name but this is no normal time.

Luke presses one last kiss to Michael’s fiery hair before leaving him alone.

\---

“We got the leader” Zakk’s voice says through the walkie-talkie Calum is holding.

“And most of the ones that were with him,” Matt says “we figure there’s not many left so we’re going to split up. I’ll take the basement and Zakk will take the main floor. We suggest one of you take the top floor and the other the attic.”

“Okay sounds good” Calum says and Ashton nods even though Zakk and Matt can’t see him, it’s more so Calum knows he approves of it.

“We’ll all meet outside when we’re done, okay?” Matt asks.

“Okay, see you then” Calum says before clicking a button to disconnect the walkie-talkie.

“I’ll take the attic, okay? I love attics” Calum says and Ashton nods in agreement, not bothering to question Calum’s obsession with creepy things.

They are monster hunters so he figures it’s fitting.

Ashton and Calum then take a staircase up to the third floor and at the top of the landing there’s a door in the ceiling with a string hanging down. Calum pulls the string which brings down a step ladder and is about to walk up but turns back around in front of it dramatically.

“I guess this is where we say goodbye” Calum says dramatically and Ashton shakes his head at his friend’s antics “stay focused okay. I mean you have been good so far, but still. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Of course” Ashton says “I’ll come out just fine and we’ll get McDonald’s after. You’re paying, since I did last time”.

“Fine, but don’t get a lot of shit, I’m on a budget” Calum says and Ashton rolls his eyes “the sooner we get this shit over with the sooner I can have a Big Mac and fries in my stomach.”

Before Ashton can even say goodbye to Calum he’s sprinting up the steps, so quickly Ashton’s surprised he doesn’t trip in any of the spaces.

Ashton shakes the thoughts from his head and focuses on what he’s supposed to be doing, looking for any last vampires to kill.

\---

The third level is actually pretty quiet and it isn’t until Ashton reaches the final room that he finds someone.

Ashton takes out the bottle of Vervain and pours it at the doorway, just like he did with every other one so no vampire can escape.

It’s a bedroom with two beds, an entertainment unit with a flat screen TV, a bunch of video game consoles and of course a bunch of video games and movies. Clothes are scattered all over the floor and the beds are unmade. There are night stands beside each bed, though you couldn’t even see the top as they’re littered with food wrappers and empty soda cans. There are also empty IV bags of blood, the only sign this room belongs to a vampire and not just some teenagers.

There’s also a closet which Ashton makes his way over to and as he opens the door something rushes out in a whiz of black and knocks him over. Ashton quickly recovers and aims his gun.

“Look I know you’re here, you might as well show yourself and get this over with” Ashton says as the vampire has disappeared “you know you can’t get out of here”.

As if seeming to test that, the streak of black rushes out from behind the furthest bed and heads towards the doorway. However when it does there’s a burning noise and a squeak with a mumbled “ow, fuck” and a blonde boy is revealed.

He’s pretty tall, a good couple of inches taller than Ashton, and Ashton is six foot, and he’s wearing a black Fall Out Boy hoodie and black skinny jeans that make his long legs seem to go on for miles. His hair is gathered into a quiff on top of his head and he has the bluest eyes Ashton has ever seen. His lips are perfectly pink and plump and Ashton wouldn’t mind kissing them, though as soon as that thought floods his mind Ashton shakes it away because this boy is a vampire, he shouldn’t be thinking like this. Besides even if he wasn’t a vampire the boy can’t be any older than seventeen and Ashton is twenty-one and he thinks that’s a little too big of an age difference.

 His eyebrows are raised in shock and Ashton finds it’s kind of adorable but again shakes the thought from his head. As cute as the boy looks though, Ashton can’t help but notice how terrified he looks, much like the girl on the stairs did.

The sleeves on the boy’s hoodie are rolled up and Ashton notices the burn marks on his wrist and he can’t help but feel incredibly guilty. The boy’s looking at them like he’s wondering why it’s not healing right away like most vampire wounds would and it makes Ashton feel even worse.

“It’s vervain” Ashton says “it won’t heal unless treated”.

Ashton doesn’t know why he’s telling the boy these things, he’s a vampire, but he figures he feels bad for him, since based off the fact he didn’t know what vervain is he was recently turned.

The boy looks up from his arms to meet Ashton’s gaze and when he does Ashton wishes he hadn’t. He looks absolutely terrified and it makes Ashton’s heart ache.

“Don’t-don’t hurt me” the boy says looking at Ashton’s gun that is pointed directly at him “I can- I can hurt you if I need to but I don’t have much training and I don’t want to.”

Ashton doesn’t know why but he lowers his gun and slings it behind his back so the boy knows he won’t use it. Ashton figures maybe he did it because the boy doesn’t seem very threatening, especially when he told Ashton he didn’t want to hurt him and didn’t have much training. However, he knows it could just be a trick which is why he has his gun in a spot where it’s still easily accessible.

“I won’t” Ashton says and the boy still looks at him wearily.

“What’s your name?” Ashton asks figuring getting the boy talking will help him be less scared.

“Why should I tell you?” the boys asks.

“Because I want to help you but I need to know some more about you” Ashton says.

He actually genuinely means it, the boy looks so vulnerable and not at all dangerous and Ashton knows he probably has nowhere to go. Which Ashton knows is his fault and he feels incredibly guilty and again he doesn’t know what is up with him today. Normally he has no problem killing monsters because they’re just that _monsters_ , but this boy is the furthest thing from a monster Ashton has ever seen. He makes Ashton feel like more of a monster himself and maybe he is since he killed that girl that was just as innocent looking.

If it wasn’t for the fact the vervain burned him or he was streaking around Ashton wouldn’t have thought he was a vampire at all, maybe just a boy they held for captive.

The boy mumbles something and it snaps Ashton out of this thoughts though not in time to hear the boy.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Ashton asks.

“My name, Luke” the boy, Luke, replies.                                                                   

“Luke” Ashton repeats “I like it, it suits you”.

“T-thanks” Luke mumbles biting his lip and looking down and Ashton knows he’d be blushing if vampires could blush.

Ashton notices Luke doesn’t have his fangs out just proving he’s not ready to attack.

“I’m Ashton by the way” Ashton says and Luke nods.

“I’d say nice to meet you but you burned me and pointed a gun at me so” Luke says and Ashton can’t help but burst out laughing.

When he does Luke is looking at him like he’s pleased he made the boy laugh and also with something else Ashton can’t quite place.

“Well I can promise you it won’t happen again” Ashton says.

“I hope so” Luke mumbles.

“So how old are you, Luke?” Ashton asks.

“Seventeen” Luke replies.

“How long have you been seventeen?” Ashton asks and Luke laughs.

“Did you really just quote Twilight?” Luke giggles.

Ashton never thought he would see a vampire giggle, yet here he is.

“I’m surprised you knew, I thought there’d be a rule against vampires watching it like “’that’s a bunch of bullshit and doesn’t accurately represent us, don’t watch it or it’ll make you angry’” Ashton says and again Luke giggles.

Even though Luke is vampire, _he’s a damn cute vampire_ , okay? Ashton will admit that.

“I think most of us actually watch it to make fun of it and because we want to see what the author came up with about us. My friend Michael, his girlfriend… and I actually just watched it and yeah it was terrible. Bella is such a weak character and not at all how young girls should aspire to be” Luke says.

Ashton can’t help but notice the way Luke pauses after he mentions Michael girlfriend and looks down sadly and Ashton feels stick to his stomach when he realizes she was probably the girl on the stairs.

“You’re right about that” Ashton says “my sister Lauren used to be obsessed with it and it worried me. I’m glad she grew out of it and realized how weak of a character Bella is. Anyways you never answered my question.”

“Oh, right” Luke says sounding genuinely sorry “about seven months”

“How long ago were you turned?” Ashton asks.

“Like six months ago, it wasn’t long after my birthday” Luke answers.

Ashton already knew Luke was recently turned but he didn’t know it was that recent, he figured it had at least been a year.

“So you- you don’t have anywhere to go?” Ashton asks and Luke shakes his head.

“No, I made my actual family believe I moved to America and they were, they were…” Luke trails off and Ashton speaks so Luke knows he doesn’t have to continue.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me” Ashton says and Luke smiles gratefully.

The next thing Ashton does is insane and Ashton knows his friends will think that way but he can’t just leave Luke, _he can’t._ Though why Ashton doesn’t know, maybe because he seems genuinely upset? Something deep inside of Ashton tells him that isn’t the reason, well at least not the full reason but he ignores it.

“You can come with me. I’ll keep you safe, get those healed for you” Ashton says gesturing to Luke’s arms.

“But what about…” Luke trails off.

“Other hunters?” Ashton asks and Luke nods “I’ll tell them not to touch you and if they do we’ll have a problem. I’ve killed hundreds of monsters who’s to say I couldn’t do it to a human?

Luke looks a little shocked at first and Ashton thinks maybe he’s scared him again but it’s gone as quickly as it came.

“What about blood?” Luke asks.

“You’ve got a lot downstairs, we’ll pack as much as we can into my truck, when that runs out we’ll figure out how to get you some” Ashton says and Luke nods “you ready to go?”

“One more thing, my, my friend Michael” Luke’s trails off his voice cracking.

  Ashton notices Luke’s eyes tear up and it makes his heart ache, he doesn’t ever want to see those beautiful eyes sad.

“You didn’t- you didn’t…see a boy with red hair, did you?” Luke mumbles.

 Ashton knows form the way Luke pauses before he says the word ‘see’ that he was originally going to  say ‘kill’ and Asthon feels incredibly guilty even though he saw no boy of that description.

“No” Ashton answers not knowing what else to say.

“Maybe he got away?” Luke asks trying to sound hopeful but Ashton can tell he doesn’t even believe it himself.

“Maybe” Ashton says trying to sound reassuring.

“Can I- Can I have a moment? There’s some stuff I want to pack” Luke asks and Ashton nods.

“Yeah of course” Ashton says “just let me clean the vervain so you can leave and I’ll be in the hall. Do you know where the cleaning products would be? Just standard ones will work.”

“In the bathroom, the second door across the hall” Luke answers and Ashton knows he’s biting back tears.

Ashton doesn’t say anything else and heads to the bathroom where he finds cleaning product and a sponge. He silently wipes off the door frame while Luke robotically puts things into a duffel bag and while Ashton knows seeing Luke cry would be hard to see, it’d be much better than seeing him hold back his tears.

“You can cry, I won’t judge” Ashton says and it’s like he’s opening up a floodgate because as soon as he does tears start streaming down Luke’s face.

Ashton finishes cleaning in silence as he doesn’t know what he would say. ‘Sorry my friends probably killed your friend?’ Yeah, no.

Once Ashton is finished he decides to give Luke some space so he goes and returns the cleaning product, even though he knows no one will use it and throws the paper towels in the garbage next to the toilet. He decides he’ll wait by the entrance to the Attic so if Calum comes he can at least try and convince him about Luke since he knows he’ll side with him easier than Zakk and Matt and while Calum’s a hunter, he’s Ashton’s best friend first and would probably trust his judgement.

However, Ashton doesn’t have the chance to do that because soon as he steps out of the bathroom he feels a force knock him to the ground.

\---

Luke is hiding in the closest not daring to make a noise as he doesn’t want the hunters to hear. He figures he’ll just wait out in here until they leave and then where he’ll go after that he has no idea. He’ll probably try and find Michael first and they’ll figure something out from there. Though the fact Luke has heard multiple shrieks and gunshots and Michael hasn’t returned yet is worrying.

What is Luke supposed to do if Michael didn’t make it? The vampires had become like his family but he was definitely the closest to Michael out of all of them. If he didn’t have Michael he didn’t have anyone.

Luke is snapped out of his thoughts when his super-hearing picks up something. It’s voices, two males and they’re trying to be quiet but they might as well be talking right next to Luke with his hearing.

Luke doesn’t really bother to listen into their conversation as it doesn’t really interest him and he needs to focus on how he’s going to escape.

He can’t go out the window, the hunters would hear and what if there’s some waiting outside? Besides Luke has a feeling Michael is still alive and hiding somewhere and he could never leave Michael like that, even if Michael would want him to.

So Luke decides he’ll just stay in the closet, and if he wasn’t so tense he would probably laugh at that irony, and hope for the best. And if a hunter does happen to come in Luke will just have to attack them, even though he doesn’t have much training. He knows he needs to get out alive, his life has just begun and he actually quite likes life as a vampire even if he doesn’t have a clan anymore, perhaps he could find a new one to join.

Luke can tell from listening that one of the two hunters went into the attic and the other one is on the same floor as him. The one on the same floor seems to be making his way down the hallway and going and in out of each room and if Luke is correct he’s in the room across the hall, which means he’s going to come into Luke’s room next.

Luke holds his breath so he doesn’t make any noise at all, and he doesn’t have to worry about needing air since he’s a vampire.

Luke hears the knob on the door to the room turn before the hunter enters and from what Luke can tell stops in the middle of the room as if he’s listening for something. Luke can feel his heart-beating out of his chest and the fear that the hunter may be able to hear it only makes it worse.

In fact it’s so loud Luke doesn’t even hear footsteps coming up to the closet until they’re right there. Though luckily it gives Luke enough time to prepare and as soon as the handle on the closest turns Luke rushes out and knocks the hunter over.

Luke goes and hides behind, the bed, figuring he should trick the hunter into believing he left so he’ll have his back to him as he leaves the room and Luke can attack. Since Luke has no experience actually attacking anyone he figures it’d be better to do it from behind.

Luke can hear the hunter already getting up which he expected it but he didn’t expect the hunter to speak.

He has a pretty normal and young sounding voice, not a deep bellowing one like you’d expect a hunter to have and he doesn’t sound like he can be much older than twenty.

“Look I know you’re here, you might as well show yourself and get this over with” the hunter says “you know you can’t get out of here.”

 Luke decides to speed out of the room to show the hunter that yes, he _can_ get out of there and also because he actually needs to escape as he knows he’ll be no match for the hunter.

However when Luke reaches the door something weird happens making him unable to leave. At first it’s like he ran into a closed door even though the door was wide open and then Luke feels himself burning and jumps back with a squeak. In normal circumstances Luke would be embarrassed by the squeak because nothing says ‘I’m a terrifying vampire’ like a childish squeak.

“Ow, fuck” Luke mumbles looking down at his arms, which are still sizzling and show no sign of healing.

Which Luke finds odd because normally injuries heal right away, Luke is a vampire after all. So what the hell was that in the doorway?

“It’s vervain, it won’t heal unless treated,” the hunter says.

Luke’s heard of vervain before though not much about it, just that it’s extremely dangerous and used by hunters.

The hunter seemed to read Luke’s mind, which Luke finds odd because isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Luke could read the hunter’s mind if he wanted to but he feels like that’s a violation of privacy, even if the guy is trying to kill him.

Luke reluctantly looks up to meet the hunter’s eyes and immediately wishes he hadn’t. It’s not that the hunter has a murderous look in his eyes or anything, his gun is raised and pointed directly at Luke though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to pull the trigger. It’s his attractiveness that makes Luke wish he never looked at him.

He’s a bit shorter than Luke and dressed in black cargo pants with a black t-shirt, with a round of wooden bullets slung over it, and leather jacket open over that. He has bronze skin and semi-short dirty blonde hair and his eyes, god his eyes. They’re probably the most beautiful eyes Luke has ever seen, and that’s saying a lot considering Luke has spent his past six months with vampires who typically have more vibrant eyes than humans. One guy, one Michael and Alicia set Luke up on a date with, actually had violet eyes (which Luke learned on the date where his only good quality) but they’re nothing compared to this hunters. They’re a deep hazel, amber almost, with flecks of green and Luke could spend all day looking into them.

However Luke quickly shakes the thoughts about this guy from his mind, because he’s a hunter, an enemy, _he’s trying to kill Luke._ Luke has no plan or idea for how he’s going to get out of this alive, the last thing he needs is to be distracted, especially with a gun pointed directly at his heart.

Besides the gun the hunter doesn’t seem ready to attack so Luke tries to barter his way out of this. Though when he speaks his fear is clear in his voice and he winces because he at least wanted to sound like he wasn’t terrified.

 “Don’t-don’t hurt me, I can- I can hurt you if I need to but I don’t have much training and I don’t want to” Luke says.

He knows it probably wasn’t the best idea to tell the hunter he’s so inexperienced but he’s already made it pretty clear he’s terrified, maybe he can use it to his advantage.

 “I won’t” the hunter says and Luke looks at him wearily.

He’s not agreeing that easily, is he? This must be some sort of trick and he still has his gun raised, Luke isn’t letting his guard down yet.

“What’s your name?” the hunter asks though it’s not demanding it’s as if he wants to be friends with Luke or something, which has to be a trick, right?

“Why should I tell you?” Luke asks.

“Because I want to help you but I need to know some more about you” the hunter says like he genuinely wants to help Luke.

Luke decides to just tell him not wanting to anger the hunter or anything as he still has his gun raised so he reluctantly says his name.

 “I’m sorry, what did you say?” the hunter asks.

He seemed distracted while Luke was answering first, though Luke didn’t bother to look into his thoughts. He promised himself he’d only use that power unless really necessary because it’s not fair to humans to use it.

“My name, Luke” Luke replies.                                                                      

“Luke” the hunter repeats “I like it, it suits you.”

“T-thanks” Luke mumbles biting his lip and looking down and he’s so grateful vampires can’t blush.

Luke doesn’t know why he’s so flustered, okay, yes he does, it’s because the hunter is incredibly attractive, but again Luke shakes the thoughts from his head. He still doesn’t know if he can trust the guy.

 “I’m Ashton, by the way” the hunter, Ashton, says and Luke nods.

“I’d say nice to meet you but you burned me and pointed a gun at me so” Luke says and Ashton causing Ashton to laugh.

Luke can’t help but be pretty pleased with himself, he just made a cute guy laugh, it’s not every day that happens.

 “Well I can promise you it won’t happen again” Ashton says sounding genuine as he lowers his gun and slings it around his back, showing he’s not going to use it.

“I hope so” Luke mumbles.

“So how old are you, Luke?” Ashton asks.

“Seventeen” Luke replies automatically.

Maybe he’s trusting Ashton too quickly, he did just put his gun away after all and he could easily bring it back out anytime he’d like and attack. Though somehow Luke knows he won’t do that and who else does Luke have to trust? As far as he knows his entire clan is dead, except maybe Michael. Luke feels like he’d _know_ if his best friend was dead, though maybe that’s just blind optimism.

“How long have you been seventeen?” Ashton asks and Luke laughs.

He had just watched Twilight and while he tried to block most of it from his memory he does remember that iconic line.

“Did you really just quote Twilight?” Luke laughs and wishes he hadn’t.

Luke hates his laugh, it’s obnoxious and high pitched and he sounds like a child, though not cute like a child.

 “I’m surprised you knew, I thought there’d be a rule against vampires watching it like ‘that’s a bunch of bullshit and doesn’t accurately represent us, don’t watch it or it’ll make you angry’” Ashton says making Luke laugh more.

Luke wishes he could stop laughing, it’s embarrassing, but cute boys have this effect on Luke where he laughs at whatever stupid shit they say and somehow it feels worse with Ashton.

 “I think most of us actually watch it to make fun of it and because we want to see what the author came up with about us. My friend Michael, his girlfriend… and I actually just watched it and yeah it was terrible. Bella is such a weak character and not at all how young girls should aspire to be” Luke rambles hoping it will distract from his laugh though it probably makes Ashton find him even more obnoxious.

Besides Luke doesn’t want to think about Alicia right now, it makes what happened to her seem more real. Luke knows it was real, he saw her body but with having to hide and worry about not getting killed himself Luke was able to forget about what happened to her. Now though it comes crushing down on Luke that one of his best friends was killed, quite possibly by the guy standing in front of him, the guy he’s trusting too quickly.

And Luke’s other best friend, if Michael isn’t physically dead, his spirit will be as his main source of happiness was taken from him. Luke couldn’t even help Michael cope with leaving his family behind, only Alicia could. How is he supposed to help Michael cope with the death of his new family and his girlfriend?

 “You’re right about that” Ashton says.

At first Luke is confused but then he realizes Ashton’s referring to the part where he said Bella is a character young girls should aspire to be like. Ashton completely glossed over Luke’s upset at what happened to Alicia. Whether it’s because he doesn’t care, feels guilty or understands that Luke doesn’t want to talk about it, Luke doesn’t know or care, he’s just glad he doesn’t have to talk about it.

 “My sister Lauren used to be obsessed with it and it worried me. I’m glad she grew out of it and realized how weak of a character Bella is. Anyways, you never answered my question.”

“Oh, right” Luke says taking a moment to remember the question “about seven months.”

“How long ago were you turned?” Ashton asks in shock.

“Like six months ago, it wasn’t long after my birthday” Luke answers.

Luke can see the shock on Ashton’s face, though it’s gone as quickly as it came.

 “So you- you don’t have anywhere to go?” Ashton asks concerned and Luke shakes his head.

“No, I made my actual family believe I moved to America and they were, they were…” Luke trails off not knowing how to continue.

Though Ashton seems to get it and speaks so Luke doesn’t have to continue, which Luke is grateful for.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me” Ashton says and Luke smiles so he knows he’s gracious “You can come with me. I’ll keep you safe, get those healed for you.”

Ashton seems genuine and Luke has no other options, though he knows Ashton won’t hurt him it’d still be dangerous. There’s still other hunters that could harm him, he knows Ashton didn’t come alone. And how is Luke supposed to feed? Is Ashton going to supply him with blood or something? And what if Michael is still alive? Luke can’t leave until he knows whether Michael is alive or not.

“But what about…” Luke trails off.

“Other hunters?” Ashton asks and Luke nods because that’s one of the problems “I’ll tell them not to touch you and if they do we’ll have a problem. I’ve killed hundreds of monsters, who’s to say I couldn’t do it to a human?”

Ashton genuinely seems like he’d do anything, even harming his friends to protect Luke and he can’t stop the shock from flooding his face, though luckily he makes it go away. Still he asks another question for good measure, and also because he needs to know the answer to it.

“What about blood?” Luke asks.

“You’ve got a lot downstairs, we’ll pack as much as we can into my truck, when that runs out we’ll figure out how to get you some” Ashton says and Luke nods “you ready to go?”

“One more thing, my, my friend Michael” Luke’s trails off at the mention of Michael’s name.

It now hits him that Michael could be dead and he can’t stop the tears from rushing to his eyes.

“You didn’t- you didn’t…see a boy with red hair, did you?” Luke asks.

Luke was going to say ‘you didn’t kill a boy with red hair, did you?” but he doesn’t want to make Ashton feel guilty. If Michael is dead, it may not have been Ashton that killed him and if Michael is gone then Ashton is the closest thing to a friend Luke has.

“No” Ashton answers sorrowly.

“Maybe he got away?” Luke asks trying to sound hopeful but he doesn’t believe it.

“Maybe” Ashton says trying to sound reassuring and Luke cuts him off.

It’s nice Ashton’s trying to console him but Luke just wants to be able to cry on his own and also gather up a few clothes and personal items to bring as well as stuff that’ll remind him of Michael.

“Can I- Can I have a moment? There’s some stuff I want to pack” Luke asks and Ashton nods.

“Yeah of course” Ashton says “just let me clean the vervain so you can leave and I’ll be in the hall. Do you know where the cleaning products would be? Just standard ones will work.”

“In the bathroom, the second door across the hall” Luke answers while holding in his tears.

Ashton leaves silently, well silently if Luke was a human before coming back a few minutes later and scrubbing away at the floor. Ashton doesn’t say anything and Luke can tell he’s trying to act like he’s not there but Luke still wants to wait until Ashton is gone to let his tears fall. He’s an ugly crier and no one should have to see that. So Luke listens to Ashton’s rhythmic scrubbing because distracting himself is the only way Luke can keep his tears in.

“You can cry, I won’t judge” Ashton says and as soon as he mentions it the tears fall from Luke’s eyes without his consent.

Ashton leaves without a word after he finishes cleaning and that is when Luke really let’s his tears fall. They’re streaming down his face and clouding his vision and making it hard to see what he’s packing but Luke doesn’t care.

Michael could be dead, _Michael_. The boy Luke has been best friends with since they were in Kindergarten. When Michael knocked over Luke’s castle he made with the building blocks during playtime and apologized and helped Luke rebuild the castle when he noticed him crying and then proceeded to tell the other kids he’d beat them up if they went anywhere near Luke’s castle. The boy who would always get the only red truck in the class before the other kids and turn around to give it to Luke to play with. The boy who always made sure Luke got that most prized toy of the Kindergarten room because it made Luke happy and Luke was often sad from missing his mum too much. The boy who when Luke was eleven, and they were watching a movie and Luke accidentally let it slip he found the main guy cute while Michael was talking about the girl, didn’t get angry with him like expected. He just said “that’s okay, some boys like boys and some girls like girls and some people like both, and you’re still the same Luke to me and always will be”. The boy who was way more accepting of Luke and way more of a brother to him than Luke’s actual brothers.

 That boy, could quite possibly be dead and the thought alone makes Luke feel dead himself.

Luke is shakily stuffing some flannels into a duffel bag when hears a screech and a loud thud and he rushes into the hallway, recognizing that the scream belongs to Ashton.

When he gets out there he sees two people on the floor, one person holding the other one down. The people are facing away from Luke but from the fiery red hair and the fact Luke has known this boy practically his whole life he can tell the one on top is Michael. Which means the one on the bottom is Ashton.

Luke knows he needs to get Michael off Ashton before he hurts him, or even worse bites him so he calls out Michael’s name.

“Michael!” Luke says “Michael, stop! You’re going to hurt him!”

“That’s exactly what I’m going for” Michael says not bothering to look up.

“Michael get off him, he’s trying to help” Luke says.

“A hunter trying to help vampires, as if, this is probably a trap. I thought you were smarter than this, Luke” Michael says.

Luke can’t help but be offended at that, Luke isn’t stupid. He didn’t just trust Ashton because he said he was going to help or because he’s attractive, he trusted him because he sounded genuine. It hurts that Michael would think that little of Luke and judge a situation he never even witnessed.

Partially because he’s offended and partially because he needs to get Michael off Ashton before something bad happens Luke rushes over to where Michael and Ashton are and pulls Michael off and it’s pretty easy to do since Michael is taken by surprise and isn’t fighting back.

“It’s not a trap, I’m not stupid” Luke says grabbing Michael tightly by his shirt collar.

“I kind of can’t breathe, Luke” Michael says and Luke lets him go.

He doesn’t know what overcame him and why he grabbed Michael so aggressively, it was partially due to still not really knowing how strong he actually is right now but it was also partially because what Michael said hurt.

“I’m sorry for practically calling you stupid, but Luke, we’re the only ones left because of _him_ ,” Michael says the last word bitterly while glaring at Ashton “because of hunters. They fucking killed our entire clan, they killed Alicia!”

“I know, Michael” Luke says “but Ashton is genuinely trying to help, I know he is, just trust my judgment on this. We have nowhere else to go anyways”

“Yeah okay, okay. I’ll agree to this but only because I know you’re smart and have much better judgment than I do. Plus even if you didn’t I wouldn’t let you do this on your own” Michael says.

“Thank you” Luke says and at that moment Luke realizes that Michael is actually perfectly alive and well in front of him and he launches himself towards Michael.

“Luke what are yo-” Michael asks confused.

However, when Luke wraps his arms around Michael’s neck the confusion goes away and he hugs Luke back, wrapping his arms around the blonde’s waist.

“For a while, I thought, I thought you were-” Luke can’t even finish the sentence because his tears are back and he buries his face into Michael’s shoulder.

“Well I’m not” Michael says hugging Luke tighter and stroking his hair like he knows always calms Luke down “I promised you I’d come back and I never break the promises I make to you.”

“Yeah I know but still, you’re the most important person in my life Michael, I’d be nothing without you” Luke says.

“Awww, Luke. That’s not true, you wouldn’t be nothing without me, you just wouldn’t be as awesome” Michael teases.

“You were supposed to say something sweet back, you ruined it” Luke whines.

“Yeah while I’m your best friend not your boyfriend, it’s not my job to say sweet stuff back it’s my job to say sarcastic stuff” Michael says.

“I hate you” Luke mutters.

“You love me” Michael counters.

“Yeah” Luke admits.

“I love you too Luke, see I said it back” Michael says.

“Yeah and then ruined it by saying ‘I said it back’” Luke counters.

“Nothing’s ever good enough for you” Michael laughs before turning to Ashton.

“So where are you taking us hunter boy?” Michael asks and Luke kicks him in the shin.

 _“Don’t be rude_ ” Luke says to Michael in his mind knowing the other boy will hear as vampires can speak through their mind.

 _“I’m not being rude”_ Michael says back _“I’m asking a question, what’s wrong with that?”_

 _“Nothing, but you didn’t have to call him that_ ” Luke says.

 _“What? Hunter boy? That’s what he is_ ” Michael says.

 _“Yeah but you meant it to be rude_ ” Luke says.

“ _So what if I did, I only agreed to go with him, I never agreed to be nice to him_ ” Michael quips.

“ _Whatever_ ” Luke mutters knowing there’s no point in arguing.      

“To McDonald’s” Ashton says and Michael and Luke look at him confused.

“It’s a tradition my partner Calum and I have after every hunt” Ashton explains.

“So you’re like ‘wow we sure killed a lot of people tonight let’s celebrate!’ like it’s a sport or something” Michael says bitterly.

“We don’t kill people, we kill monsters” Ashton defends.

“Yeah and anyone that isn’t human is a monster to you, even if they’ve never harmed anyone” Michael says “you probably do no research on who you kill, you just go in and kill.”

“Michael” Luke says but Michael ignores him.

“We just follow the boss’s orders and figure he researched” Ashton says.

“You know the Nazi’s were just following orders” Michael says.

“Michael!” Luke shouts this time.

“What? It’s true, we-” Michael stops but cuts himself off when Luke glares at him.

“Fine, whatever” Michael mutters “Can we at least bring stuff with us?”

“Of course, Luke was actually in the middle of packing, _you know before you attacked me_ ” Ashton says glaring at Michael.

 Luke knows Ashton and Michael are going to have a hard time getting along, he just hopes this Calum person is chill about everything.

“Well c’mon Luke, let’s pack” Michael says grabbing Luke’s arm.

“Okay, you guys do that I’ll try and convince Calum this is a good idea. Meet us at the top of the stairs and we’ll load as much blood as we can onto our truck” Ashton says.

“Oh so you’re not going to let us starve, how nice of you. Doing the bare minimum of being decent” Michael mutters.

“Michael, let’s go” Luke says dragging Michael towards the bedroom.

He glances back at Ashton apologetically as he does so and Ashton smiles at him and again Luke is grateful vampires can’t blush because he would be profusely right now.

\---

After about fifteen minutes Michael and Luke finish packing and meet Ashton at the top of the stairs and another hunter is with him, who Luke assumes is Calum. Calum is a bit taller than Ashton with dark skin and dark brown hair and eyes.  He has a blank expression on his face where he could either be really pissed off or just neutral, Luke can’t tell.

“This is Calum” Ashton says confirming Luke’s thoughts “he agreed to let you guys stay with us, we have two other friends with us though and we don’t know how they’d take you being vampires so we’re just going to tell them you were humans that were captured”.

“Okay” Luke says reluctantly.

The fact their other friends might not accept them is a little worrying but it sounds like they won’t be staying with them from what Ashton said so it’s not that bad.

“Well let’s go then” Ashton says and Michael and Luke follow Calum.

 _“I don’t like that Calum guy even more than I don’t like that Ashton guy_ ” Michael says in his mind to Luke.

 _“Why? He hasn’t even spoken”_ Luke says back.

_“Yeah, exactly at least Ashton is trying to act like he’s not repulsed by us. Calum just stood there scowling, he’ll probably try and stake us in our sleep.”_

_“Okay, first off, Ashton isn’t repulsed by us and Calum isn’t going to kill us in our sleep. Maybe he just has bitchy resting face, besides, Ashton said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt us”_

_“I don’t recall him saying that.”_

_“He said it to me before you attacked him.”_

_“Well then he probably just means you, he doesn’t like me and I feel the same way.”_

_“He knows you’re important to me, he wouldn’t let you get hurt.”_

_“Okay, now you’re making it sound like he’s your boyfriend or something.”_

_“I am not.”_

_“You are too, and I bet you’d like that to be true, wouldn’t you?”_

_“I would not, I barely know him.”_

_“I can tell when you’re lying, Luke and not just because I can read your fucking mind.”_

_“This conversation is over.”_

_“Only because you know you can’t argue.”_

Luke decides to ignore Michael’s last comment and also the smirk he’s looking at him with.

They’re now approaching the cellar door and Luke can hear two hushed voices at the bottom of the stairs, he looks warily at Michael who’s looking back with the same look.

When Ashton and Calum get to the door they turn back around to face Luke and Michael.

“So their names are Matt and Zakk, Zakk is the shorter one with blonde in his hair. When we meet them try and act scared like you were held captive” Ashton says.

Michael looks like he’s going to say something against it so Luke speaks before he can.

“Okay, sounds good” Luke says glaring at Michael.

“ _I was going to say I don’t want to do this because it makes our clan look bad and I don’t want to betray them like that. You obviously have no problem with that though. Shit, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I have nothing against you or doing what you have to to keep us safe. I just don’t trust these guys though, especially Calum. He’s a bigger dick than ever.”_

_“Calum’s probably just quiet and if by bigger dick you mean he has a bigger than you, then yes.”_

_“Ouch, that hurt, Luke. Though I guess I deserved it.”_

_“You did.”_

Luke is pulled from his internal conversation with Michael when Ashton speaks.

“We’ll tell them to go on ahead of us so you guys can grab blood, by the way we forgot to tell you we parked the car at the edge of the forest” Ashton says.

“Well I guess it’s good we have vampire speed then” Michael retorts sarcastically and Luke kicks him to shut him up.

Ashton doesn’t say anything further he just turns around and opens the cellar door before entering and Calum glares at Michael before doing the same.

“ _Now tell me he didn’t glare at me just then.”_

_“I won’t, but you were a dick, you deserved it.”_

_“Why are you so defensive of them?”_

_“Oh I don’t know maybe because we’re going to have to live with them and I’m not going to judge people I haven’t even known for an hour.”_

_“Technically you’re judging Ashton by trusting him so quickly.”_

Luke ignores Michael’s comment and follows Calum through the door.

“ _Here goes our suicide mission.”_

_“Can you not be so negative all the time?”_

_“Nope, it’s who I am. You should be used to it after twelve years, Luke.”_

_“Just because I’m used to it doesn’t meant I have to enjoy it.”_

_“You know that’s exactly how I feel about our friendship.”_

There are two men at the bottom of the stairs, a taller one with brown hair and eyes and a shorter one with black hair and blonde streaks. Just like Ashton and Calum they both look like typical hunters, dressed in cargo pants and leather jackets with guns slung around their backs.

“Hey, Zakk. Hey, Matt. This is Luke and Michael, they’re captives and we’re taking them back to our place” Ashton says and Michael and Luke try their best to act traumatized.

“Those are some nice rings they’ve got” Zakk says pointing out the rings Luke and Michael are wearing so they can go out in the sunlight and Ashton, Luke, Michael and even Calum look at him with wide eyes.

“Oh c’mon, did you really think we’d fall for it. You’re a terrible liar, Ashton, and your friends are terrible actors. We know they’re vampires but we also know you’re not stupid and if you think these two are different than the others or something, then we won’t judge, just don’t let boss find out about this” Matt says.

“You guys aren’t mad?” Ashton asks incredulously.

“Of course not” Zakk says “though if they do attack you it’s not on us.”

“We won’t” Luke promises.

“Then we should have no problem, then” Zakk says “now let’s go to McDonald’s, I’m starving and can’t wait to see Calum pay”.

“Um excuse me” Calum says speaking for the first time and he sounds angry but Luke can tell he’s only joking, Michael would probably try and claim it’s serious though “you eat like a pig I’m not paying for you, or Matt. Only Ashton and I have this tradition, so I’m only paying for Ashton and maybe Michael and Luke too, if they want something. Though it’d be a waste of money as they don’t really need it”.

“Just because I don’t need fries doesn’t mean I don’t want them” Michael mutters and Calum glares at him.

“So” Ashton says clearly noticing the tension between Michael and Calum and trying to break it “Luke and Michael are going to need some blood, do you think you could fit some in your truck?”

“Yeah of course” Matt says “let’s start packing it before Zakk tries to eat all of us. We should hurry, he’s already pretty cranky.”

\---

“So, here we are” Ashton says parking the car in the lot of an apartment complex.

Thanks to Luke and Michael’s super speed it took about ten minutes for them to pack the truck, minus the time it took the hunters to walk back.

After they went to McDonald’s and Calum let Michael and Luke get whatever they want and they decided on coffee and fries. While they don’t need human food it doesn’t harm them, and they still want to be able to enjoy it.

Things were a little tense as Michael still wasn’t very trusting of the hunters, especially Calum and the two kept sending each other dirty looks. Michael just sat in silence and ate his food, scowling the whole time and only speaking to give one word answers to the questions Ashton tried to ask. Zakk and Matt just seemed to stay out of the drama and Luke envied them because they could, while he was stuck in the middle of it.

Michael is his best friend, of course he wants to be on Michael’s side, but Michael was being rather difficult and he wants to actually get along with Ashton and Calum. So Luke was mostly silent as well, though he answered Ashton more than Michael did and talked to Calum, Zakk and Matt a bit. He also sent them apologetic glances for Michael’s behaviour.

The car ride back wasn’t as tense since Michael and Luke were in the back and didn’t have to face Calum and Ashton, however things were still pretty awkward and Michael just sulked and looked out the window.

Though Luke can’t blame him, he did just loose his girlfriend and basically his family. So did Luke, minus the girlfriend part, though Alicia was a good friend of his. Maybe Luke should be acting more like Michael and resenting Ashton and Calum, they did do it after all, well partially at least. But right now Luke just sees them as people who are willing to help and they have been nothing but nice to him, so he’s not going to pass any judgement, though he can’t blame Michael for doing so.

They packed the blood into boxes so it was easier to carry and also so they could transport it up to the apartment without anyone noticing. It would just look like Luke and Michael were moving in and had normal things in the boxes. Of course Michael and Luke couldn’t use their super speed in the complex as people would get suspicious, but since they just had to go up to the apartment and Zakk and Matt helped too it didn’t take very long.

They put some of the blood in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer, though not all of it could fit so Ashton said they would have to get a mini fridge to store it in. Which Luke thought was very nice of him, he wouldn’t go out of his way to buy a fridge to store blood in if he hated vampires, or at least hated Luke and Michael.

 Ashton also made a concoction which he gave to Luke and said would treat his burn if he drank it. It tasted vile but it worked, and as soon as Luke finished the burn faded like any normal injury would for him.

He then showed them around the apartment which had an open concept kitchen and living room and then a hallway with three bedrooms and a bathroom, with two bedrooms on each side and the bathroom and third bedroom on the other, and there was a closet at the very end of the hallway. The décor was very simple and just looked like a normal apartment, not one you’d expect vampire hunters to live in. The only thing about the apartment that would show hunters lived in it was the fact the closet was filled with weapons and had a lock you had to scan your fingerprint on to open.

The bedroom that is for Luke and Michael was the largest of the two and even had an ensuite bathroom. Which seems nice in theory but Luke doesn’t know how nice he’ll think it is when Michael goes in there and stinks it up so close to where he’s trying to sleep.

 There was only one bed in the room, a king sized one, which Luke and Michael don’t really mind sharing as they had shared beds before and don’t find anything weird about it. Though Michael does have really cold feet and always kicks Luke so he’s glad he doesn’t actually _need_ sleep anymore as it’s always rather hard to sharing a bed with Michael.

After the tour Michael and Calum were free to do whatever they wanted so Michael and Luke unpacked before deciding to go to bed, since Ashton and Calum already had and there wasn’t much else they could do.

Of course Michael was able to fall asleep right away and Luke had to put up with his freezing feet, constant moving and kicking and his obnoxious snoring. Eventually Luke had enough of it and decided to go watch TV in the living room since he had nothing else to do and wouldn’t have to listen to it very loudly.

He’s currently sprawled on the couch watching Teen Wolf and sipping from a bag of blood. He must be really engrossed in the show, which how could he not be it’s a pretty intense show with a lot of cute boys, because he doesn’t even notice anyone come into the living room until they speak.

“You seem pretty comfortable” the voice says and Luke recognizes it as Ashton and looks up to see him standing at the end of the couch.

His hair is a mess like he’s been running his fingers through it like he’s stressed and as adorable as he looks, Luke wants to know why he’s stressed. He’s wearing a dark grey tank top over some green flannel pajama pants and well the tank top doesn’t leave much up to the imagination and Luke has to look away so he’s not staring at Ashton’s biceps.

“Oh, I um, I can move so you can sit down” Luke says starting to sit up.

“Oh I didn’t meant it like that, I just found it cute” Ashton says and Luke is really glad he can’t blush “and it’s a good thing, that you’re comfortable I mean, I wouldn’t want you to be anything but.”

“Well don’t worry, I feel just as welcomed here as I did when I first joined my clan” Luke says.

“And that’s a good thing?” Ashton asks and Luke nods in confirmation.

“Yeah they were amazing and so accepting and the leader was really cool and felt like a dad to me, and I had never had a good ‘dad’ experience until then. And the only way you would be shunned from the group was if you drank human blood or turned someone without permission. I didn’t really have the most accepting family so it was nice to actually have one for once.

Both my older brothers were really good at sports but I sucked at them and my dad didn’t really like me because of that and I didn’t really have much in common with my brothers. Then when I got older and came out as gay that just made everything worse and yeah. I never got kicked out or anything and my dad was never really abusive, like he didn’t hit me or call me names, at least to my face. I could tell he wished I was like my brothers and was good at sports and could bring home a girl though. My mum was always cool but it kind of put a strain on their relationship and yeah. Long story short when I became a vampire I decided to just tell my family I was moving away to America and my dad and brothers were unaffected and my mom was upset but I knew my family would be better off without me so” Luke rambles.

He doesn’t know why he told Ashton all this, he barely knows him but Ashton has been nothing but nice and he’s easy to talk to and Luke figures if he’s going to be living with him he might as well know these things. It just kind of spilled out of Luke after he mentioned his family wasn’t very accepting. Maybe it’s because Luke doesn’t really have anyone to talk to about it, Michael knows but Luke never really talks about it with him, especially after Michael had to leave his family. Whenever Luke would mention something his father did Michael would curse Luke’s father out before giving Luke a hug and that made Luke feel better. Maybe Luke just needed to tell someone about it though since lately Luke has just been worrying about Michael and Ashton didn’t seem to mind so Luke just kept going.

“That’s terrible, Luke” Ashton says sitting down on the couch next to Luke.

He sits right next to Luke so his arm is brushing against Luke’s and the spot where it is is burning, but not like vervain burning, a good burning, like the one they talk about in romance novels. Though it could just be due to the fact Ashton actually has bodily warmth unlike Luke and feeling sparks or whatever when you touch someone you love is just a myth. Either way, Luke likes it and he’s not going to move.

“I kind of had a shitty dad too” Ashton says running his fingers through his hair “He left after my younger brother was born and yeah. He and my mum are both hunters and that’s how they met and he trained me but my dad never really showed emotion. He just trained me like a teacher would and made me feel like I had to grow up and become a hunter.

 My mother always gave me a choice though and trained me like parent should. Then my dad ran off with some young hunter chick leaving my mother heartbroken. I chose to be a hunter to protect my mum and siblings and because my mom was so distraught I had to get an actual trainer to train me which ended up being Calum’s dad and that’s how we became best friends. And now we do it like any other job and have a boss and get paid and I don’t know.

It’s what I grew up on and it always seemed normal to me, like monsters are dangerous and I’m doing a good thing for society by getting rid of them, but now? Meeting you and seeing that you were just a normal person who happened to get turned into a vampire and is now coping with it. Seeing that you were actualy scared of _me_. The fact I killed people that were like family to you with no emotion. Well, there’s only one monster in this room right now and it’s not one drinking blood from a bag.”

“Ashton” Luke says “you’re not a monster, especially not if you feel regret.”

“But I am a monster though, Luke. You don’t know me, you don’t know how many monsters I’ve killed and maybe some of them are all bad like demons, but clearly not all vampires are bad and probably not all werewolves as well. I don’t know, I just go into work, see what my mission is for the day and go out and do it and kill ‘monsters’ I don’t even know are really bad or not and then I go out McDonald’s to celebrate, how fucked up is that?” Ashton asks.

“Ashton, you were, you were just doing what you were taught to, what you thought was right” Luke says.

“Yeah and aren’t those the worst kids of villains? The ones who think they’re heroes, Hitler thought he was saving Germany and he exterminated millions of people. Maybe your friend Michael was right when he compared me to a Nazi” Ashton says.

“Ash, you can’t think about yourself like that” Luke doesn’t know why he shortened Ashton’s name like they’re old friends or something but Ashton didn’t seem to mind, in fact Luke even thinks he saw him blush or maybe that was just wishful thinking “You’re nowhere close to being Hitler. Hitler killed innocent people just because he saw them as inferior to him for some fucked up reason. You hunt monsters, who for a most part are an actual threat to society and how were you supposed to know not all monsters are bad if no one told you” Luke says.

“That’s the problem though, Luke. I see monsters as inferior to me, just like Hitler saw anyone that wasn’t Catholic and Aryan” Ashton argues.

“Ashton, stop, stop being so hard on yourself, you don’t need to hate yourself” Luke pleads.

“But-” Ashton starts but Luke cuts him off.

“Ashton, stop, don’t listen to what Michael said, he’s just upset because he lost his girlfriend, and don’t say it was because of you. It might not have even been you” Luke starts but Ashton cuts him off.

“Did she have brown hair and was she coming down the stairs, because both me and Calum killed her, Michael has every right to hate us” Ashton says.

“You didn’t know” Luke mumbles.

“I did though _, I did know_ , like you she seemed innocent and I didn’t want to do it and I felt regret but that was the first time I ever felt remorse killing someone and I still did it.  I still fucking did it, I could’ve saved her but _no._  I drove a fucking stake through her heart because killing people is all I know how to do” Ashton cries.

“Maybe you felt regret for the first time because she was the first innocent person you had to kill” Luke suggests.

“Fuck, I don’t deserve you defending me like this, why are you doing it? You don’t know me, Luke, you don’t know me at all. It’s not like you’re some old friend of mine, we met a few hours ago when I was trying to kill you. Now you’re trying to defend me when I’ve realized the flaw in my lifestyle. You’re in no position to defending me like this, you’ve only seen the good parts of me, you didn’t see the part of me that killed your fucking family like it was nothing. Michael’s girlfriend was the only one I felt bad about killing, just because she looked young, not any of the others, even though a lot of them were probably recently turned as well. Did you know months ago me and Calum were assigned to kill your clan and almost did but your leader and some vampires got away and started rebuilding and we went back to fucking finish them off, without knowing anything about them. From what you’ve told me it seems like the only drinking animal blood has been a thing for quite a while and they’re not an actual threat to society and I killed them like it was nothing. You should hate me, why don’t you hate me?”

“Because” Luke starts but Ashton cuts him off.

“Don’t answer that” Ashton says “it wasn’t a question, I just-”        

Ashton trails off and gets up off the couch and Luke can’t help but notice the way his arm now feels cold because Ashton’s isn’t touching it anymore, and vampires aren’t supposed to feel the cold.

Luke watches as Ashton goes over to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and downs it one gulp before pouring another glass.

“I’m going to bed. Goodnight, Luke” Ashton says flatly though Luke knows Ashton isn’t upset with him.

He’s upset with himself and Luke finds that much worse, so he decides to lighten the mood a little.

“You know you’ll have to pee now because you drank all that water” Luke says.

“Are you trying to show off the fact you’re a vampire and don’t have to worry about that” Ashton teases and Luke is glad his plan worked and Ashton doesn’t seem upset anymore “and I’ll make sure to walk out in only my boxers then, give you a little show.”

Ashton winks before walking off and Luke finds it rather rude that Ashton just said something like that and walked away like it was nothing. Though he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it and didn’t want it to happen again.

\---

It became a sort of tradition after that, every night Ashton would sit with Luke and tell him random things that were on his mind until he felt he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. They’d talk about things like Michael and Calum, who Ashton was convinced angrily make out in secret and it did seem pretty logical as Michael always seemed to have really swollen lips and it’s not like he was seeing any girls.

 Michael started to warm up to Ashton after about a week but poor Calum couldn’t seem to catch a break. Michael would always scream at Calum and blame him for Alicia’s death and Calum just sat there and took it. One night at dinner however, after Michael muttered something about Calum he broke and admitted that he and Ashton did kill her. Calum was in tears when he admitted it and then ran off to his room and Michael had a look of utter guilt on his face before running off after him. It took Calum a while to let Michael in his room but he eventually did and they must’ve made up because after an hour or so they came back out with obviously swollen lips.

Ashton and Luke asked them to spill the whole story and they did, which was basically that they angrily made out in secret and did a bit more but Luke and Ashton stopped them before they could go into too much detail. Luke had to give Ashton twenty bucks because his predications were right and Luke never recalled starting a bet with Ashton on it but when he tried to point that out Ashton gave him puppy dog eyes and he couldn’t say no to that.

If they weren’t talking about Michael and Calum then Ashton was talking about his job and how horrible he felt for doing it. Luke would always try and comfort him but it would just make Ashton argue more before he’d end up going to bed. Luke knew he never slept after, it was evident from the bags under his eyes, but of course Ashton always denied it and said he slept fine. Though Luke knows he stayed up hating himself and Luke really wanted to help but he didn’t know how to. He couldn’t just go into Ashton’s room and comfort him, he would find that weird. Or would he?

Ashton gets up in the middle of an argument about himself like usual and gets a glass of water, though instead of just walking right past Luke and into his bedroom like he usually does Ashton stops in front of the couch. He sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of his nose, avoiding Luke’s eyes.

“Look, I know I don’t deserve this, but can you please join me. I can’t afford to lose anymore sleep and I honestly think I’d sleep better with you next to me” Ashton says.

“Yeah, of course” Luke says casually, like he hasn’t wanted Ashton to do this since the night he and Michael first moved in with Ashton and Calum and like he hasn’t imagined sleeping with Ashton’s strong arms wrapped around his waist.

And maybe Ashton won’t want to cuddle, but this is a step towards it, or maybe as close all they’ll get to it, whatever. Luke doesn’t really care, ever since Michael and Calum made things official they’ve shared a bed leaving Luke with his own bed to himself. Which sounds nice in theory but he actually misses Michael’s kicking and cold feet because he doesn’t feel alone and it distracts him from thinking about how Ashton is in the room just across the hall and he’s not next to him.

“Well are you coming or?” Ashton asks.

“Oh uh yeah of course, I was just thinking about something” Luke says.

“About how excited you are to be sleeping with me?” Ashton says winking at Luke.

“In your dreams” Luke mutters avoiding Ashton’s eyes.

“Oh I can assure you all my dreams are about you” Ashton says while leaning over and trailing a finger down Luke’s jaw before turning around and walking off leaving Luke with no choice but to follow him.

Luke quickly goes over to the fridge and drinks a bit of blood not wanting to go to bed hungry or be next to Ashton while he’s hungry. Ashton’s blood smells so sweet and of course Luke would never drink it or any human’s for that matter but he can’t help but want to, it’s only instinct. However if he goes to bed full he should fine, still, he decides to bring the bag with him just to be safe.

When Luke gets into the bedroom he almost drops the bag because Ashton is standing there only wearing boxers and no shirt. Of course just like how his arms are perfect so are Ashton’s abs and Luke is so glad Ashton can’t read minds because he’s thinking about things he’d like Ashton to do him that he’d rather Ashton not know.

“Don’t worry, I’ll put a shirt on, I just wanted to see how you’d react” Ashton says walking up to Luke.

He looks down at Luke’s crotch as if contemplating something and then, with much shock to Luke, he places his hand there. Luke is still fully clothed in jeans and Ashton’s hand is on the outside but he’s still sure Ashton can feel his dick twitch. Then to make things worse Ashton leans over and whispers into Luke’s ear.

“I want you to sleep with me tonight, but not in that way, but don’t worry we’ll get there. And if you think Calum is loud then you’re going to surprise yourself, because I’ll make you scream so loud the whole complex will hear.”

Ashton then just walks over to his dresser like it was nothing and grabs a grey tank top.

“I um- I should go get my pajamas” Luke says.

“Just wear your boxers and one of my shirts, I’ve always thought you’d look adorable in my shirts. Unless you don’t really need to get your pajamas and need to go jack off because I made you hard” Ashton says flirtily.

“You didn’t” Luke says and he actually isn’t lying, it was hard, ignore the pun, but he actually managed to keep his composure.

The real reason Luke wanted to get his own pajamas, even though he’d love to wear something of Ashton’s is because he doesn’t want to have to get changed in front of Ashton. Sure it would be just changing his shirt as he’d keep his boxers on but still. Ashton looks flawless shirtless, and Luke does not, not even becoming a vampire could change that.

“Can I change in the bathroom or can you look away, also can I have a t-shirt” Luke asks as he also hates his shoulders and Ashton looks at him sadly before searching for a t-shirt in his dresser.

He pulls out a grey one and hands it to Luke looking at him sadly again.

“I’ll leave” Ashton says “but you’re beautiful, Luke. I’m going to make sure you know that.”

Ashton presses a kiss to Luke’s cheek before exiting the room leaving Luke with a jumbled mind and a burning cheek.

What did Ashton mean by that? Why is he being so forward tonight? Is just platonic or more? Ashton has always been kind of flirty with Luke but never this much, so Luke just thought it was a joke. You don’t normally joke about wanting to have sex with your friend, not in that tone and with that detail while your hand is on their crotch, at least. And Ashton seemed like he really wanted Luke to know he finds him beautiful and is deeply upset he doesn’t already.

Luke shakes the thoughts from his head and pulls his hoodie and shirt off before pulling on Ashton’s t-shirt. It’s super soft and little baggy, and it smells like Ashton and Luke may claim it as his from now on.

There’s a gentle knock on the door followed by Ashton’s voice:

“Can I come in now?”

“Yeah, I’m dressed” Luke says and the door creaks open.

“You look even cuter in my shirt than I have imagined” Ashton says coming up behind Luke and pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

“I-um, thanks” Luke stutters and even though Ashton is behind him Luke can tell he’s smirking.

Ashton then traces his finger down Luke’s arm causing him to shiver before stopping at his hand and interlacing it with his. Ashton’s hands fully cover Luke’s and they’re warm and Luke could definitely get used to this.

Ashton then leads Luke towards the bed and pulls the covers down so he can get in.

“Pick a side” Ashton says and Luke decides on the left and lays down bringing the covers up around him only slightly so Ashton can still get in.

Ashton gets in and pulls Luke into his arms so Luke’s head is resting on his chest and Luke can hear his heartbeat, which could be problematic but Luke isn’t even thinking about that right now. He just thinking about how nice it is to cuddle with Ashton, whatever it means, and of course if it gets too much Ashton will understand and he has that bag of blood on the night stand.

“Goodnight, Lukey” Ashton says pressing a kiss to the top of Luke’s head and while Michael has called Luke by that many times and so has Calum even, Luke always likes it’s the most when it’s coming from Ashton.

“Goodnight Ashton” Luke says shutting his eyes and falling asleep almost instantly.

\---

Luke wakes randomly and at first he thinks it’s because he’s hungry but he’s still full and then he realizes Ashton had moved him. Luke is now facing the opposite way of Ashton though his head is resting on Ashton’s arm. Ashton is wide awake and starting at the ceiling.

“Why’d you move me?” Luke asks.

“I didn’t, you fell off when you rolled over, babe” Ashton says.

“Oh” Luke says trying to act like he’s not internally freaking because Ashton called him ‘babe’ “sorry”.

“Don’t be, it was cute” Ashton says and Luke avoids his eyes.

“Did I wake you?” Luke asks.

“No, I haven’t slept yet” Ashton says.

“Oh, you could’ve woken me” Luke says.

“You looked peaceful and besides, I wasn’t having bad thoughts or anything, they were rather nice ones” Ashton says.

“Are you going to tell me them?” Luke asks.

“You can read minds right?” Ashton asks ignoring Luke’s question.

“Yeah” Luke answers.

“So you could read mine?” Ashton asks.

“Well, yeah but I never have, I don’t think it’s very humane” Luke says.

“Such a good little vampire” Ashton teases ruffling Luke’s hair “but what if I wanted you to? Would it be okay then?”

“I guess so” Luke replies.

“Then do it” Ashton says “tell me what I’m thinking right now”

“Well, okay, if you really want me to” Luke says.

“I really want you to” Ashton replies.

“Well look at me then, I have to look into your eyes to do so” Luke says.

“Do you really? Or is that just an excuse?” Ashton asks.

“Shut up, I can’t read your mind if you’re talking” Luke says.

“Fine” Ashton sighs.

Luke clears all the thoughts from his mind so he can focus on Ashton’s and what he gets make his breath catch in his throat.

_I think you’re gorgeous and have wanted to kiss you since the day we met, will you let me?_

“I-um” Luke stutters avoiding Ashton’s eyes because he’s sacred he read it wrong.

Luke nods slightly to answer the question and he looks up to see Ashton’s reaction which is the brightest smile Luke has ever seen.

Luke then feels Ashton places on hand on Luke’s neck and tangle the other in his hair while gently bringing Luke’s face up towards his.

When Ashton presses their lips together it’s better than Luke could have ever imagined and better than any other kisses Luke has had and Ashton isn’t even moving his lips yet.  When Ashton does move his lips it feels heavenly and Luke whines and tangles his hands in Ashton’s hair to pull him closer to him. Ashton hums against Luke’s lips and moves the hand that was on his neck down to his waist to pull Luke on top of him. They kiss feverently until Ashton pulls away panting slightly.

“I actually have to breathe unlike you” Ashton says in between breaths.

“What a shame” Luke retorts pecking Ashton quickly.

“Luke” Ashton asks.

“Yeah?’ Luke responds.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Ashton asks.

“Wow you move fast” Luke teases.

“Well I don’t know, ever since I met you I knew I wanted you, you’re fucking adorable and sweet as hell and basically anything I could ever want in someone. I knew you were special and I wanted to take things slow, you do have all the time in the world after all. But then, well, I realized I don’t. I’m already four years older than you and I’ll keep aging and you’ll still look seventeen. I’ve probably only got like a few years left with you before things start looking weird and yeah. I want to have you for as long as I can” Ashton says.

“Well now I’m sad” Luke says.

“I’m sorry” Ashton says.

“Don’t be. It’s the truth we have to handle” Luke says kissing Ashton quickly “and to answer your question of course I’ll be your boyfriend. I’ve never met anyone I’ve had as strong of feelings as I do for you and I don’t think I ever will.”

“Luke, I know we just admitted our feelings but I can honestly say I love you” Ashton says.

“I love you too, Ashton” Luke replies.

Ashton kisses Luke one last time before yawning and Luke laughs.

“Sleep” Luke says.

“I want to stay up with you but I honestly don’t think I can” Ashton says.

“Good” Luke says resting his head on Ashton’s chest “you can’t skip sleep like I can”.

“I know, it sucks” Ashton mutters into Luke’s hair.

“Goodnight Luke.”

“Goodnight, Ashy.”

“Ashy. I like it.”

“Good because I’m calling you it whether you like it or not”

“Of course you are”

\---

It’s Ashton and Luke’s one- month anniversary and they both aren’t really the type to celebrate one month anniversaries but Ashton wanted an excuse to take Luke out. Or more like force him to go out because Luke always says he’s fine staying in as long as he’s with Ashton.

Ashton took him to this fancy Italian place and they had to dress up a little and Ashton looks extremely good in his white button up, especially because it’s somewhat see through. Luke wore a black one, so he wouldn’t have to worry about that issue. No matter how many times Ashton calls him beautiful, and it’s a lot, Luke still can’t help but be self-conscious. Ashton is tan and muscular while Luke is pale and lanky.

They’ve just finished ordering and the waitress is walking off. She’s a perky blonde who found them absolutely adorable and wanted details on their relationship, which Ashton took as an opportunity to gush about Luke for ten minutes.  Luke just avoided looking at both of them the whole time and maybe the waitress found it odd Luke never blushed though she never mentioned it.

“So” Ashton says looking around suspiciously.

“So” Luke copies.

“So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking” Ashton says.

“Oh god that’s never good” Luke teases.

“Fuck off” Ashton laughs kicking Luke’s shin playfully under the table.

“I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff, me, us” Ashton says and this isn’t going where Luke thinks it’s going is it?

He knows they have limited time but he didn’t think it would be this limited.

“No, no, no it’s not that” Ashton says noticing Luke’s upset and Luke lets out a relieved breath “it’s actually to make sure that never happens.”

“I am intrigued” Luke says suspiciously.

“Okay well I’ve been thinking about how I hate being a hunter and also how much I love you and can honestly see myself being with you forever” Ashton says.

“And?” Luke urges.

“And I came up with a plan. I’m going to quit being a hunter and find a new job and I want you to turn me. I know you have extra rings so we won’t have to worry about that” Ashton says.

“Ashton” Luke says warily “You know I’d love to spend forever with you and if you’re 100% sure about this I’d love to do it, but I honestly don’t think I can. Turning is dangerous and I have no idea how to do it, I know the general process but if something goes wrong… I wouldn’t know how to treat it”.

“Oh” Ashton mumbles.

“Maybe I could research” Luke suggests “we could see if there’s books back at my lair.”

“Yeah, maybe, but if it’s dangerous I don’t know” Ashton mutters.

Luke doesn’t know what to say next and luckily he doesn’t have to, at least not for now because the waitress comes to the table.

“I hate to interrupt, but I have to speak with both of you, in the back. There’s been a mix up” the waitress says.

“Okay” Ashton and Luke both say.

“Perfect! Follow me right this way” the waitress says before bounding off and Luke and Ashton follow her.

She takes them to a metal door and opens it and flips on a switch and Luke can tell it’s some sort of freezer.

“Step inside!” the waitress says ushering them in and Luke and Ashton follow.

The waitress enters after shutting the door behind her.

“I figured we should go somewhere sound proof for this” she says and Luke and Ashton exchange looks.

“So I overheard your conversation” she says and Luke and Ashton exchange nervous looks as they thought they were being quiet.

“Don’t worry, you weren’t loud” the waitress says before looking at Luke “you aren’t the only vampire here”.

She then tugs up slightly on the chain around her neck to pull a pendant out of her shirt which has the same stone as Luke’s ring.

“So I’m actually part of a clan in Melbourne but I was assigned to come down here because we had reports of hunters exterminating clans who swear on only animal blood diets and aren’t a threat at all to humans, just like my clan. We actually have an agreement between our clan and the local hunters that we’re allowed to live there and not be hunted because of our morals. We also know how to turn people and I really want to help you guys. So if you want, quit your job tomorrow and then come with me to Melbourne and we’ll turn you and accept you as one of us. I’m Angelique, by the way”.

“See if she’s lying” Ashton says and Luke looks at Angelique apoplectically but follows Ashton’s orders anyways and looks into her mind and he can tell she’s being 100% truthful.

“She’s telling the truth, 100%” Luke says.

“Okay” Ashton says “we actually have two friends we’ll have to talk to about it but I think we can convince them. Can we meet you here?”

“How about I meet you” Angelique says pulling a cell phone out of her pocket “I’ll text you”.

Ashton and Luke both nod and put their numbers in Angelique’s phone.

“Perfect” Angelique says.

“Thank you so much” Luke says “this means so much to us, you practically saved us.”

“Us vampires gotta look out for each other” Angelique says.

“Thank you” Ashton says “so much”.

“No problem. I can tell how much you two love each other, I’d hate for it to end if it doesn’t have too. Now, you’re food should be ready, go to your table without me so things don’t seem suspicious” Angelique says.

Luke and Ashton both thank her again before following her order and going back to their table.

\---

“You guys are crazy, what’s with you trusting your life on people you’ve just met, Luke” Michael says.

“I read her mind and she was being 100% honest and when has that ever failed?” Luke asks.

“Okay, that is true. What do you think Calum?” Michael asks.

“I like it, I’ve actually thought of both, quitting, and being a vampire but I thought you’d all find me crazy for asking” Calum answers.

“Well you obviously don’t have to worry about that” Ashton says.

“Okay it’s settled then, let’s pack. I fucking hate packing so let’s get this hell over with” Michael says.

“You’re probably not even going to pack at all, you’ll just tell us all what to do” Calum mutters.

“Hey someone’s got to supervise” Michael retorts.

\---

“I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you and that it all worked out” Luke says tracing circles on Ashton’s chest “I’m still not use to you not having a heartbeat or no bodily warmth, though.”

“It’s been two months!” Ashton exclaims “longer than we were together and I was still human.”

“Whatever, it’s still weird” Luke says “but really, this new clan is amazing. I could never say they replace my old one, but they’re just as great. And again the fact I have you, I’ll gladly spend eternity with you.”

“Good because you’re stuck with me, forever and always.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


End file.
